"Boss, he's just some little punk. What are you afraid of?"
One of Little Fatty's companions recognized Mo Chen too and said with a fierce look, "Yesterday, he just caught us off guard with a sneak attack. There are four of us here. Are we really supposed to be afraid of him?"
"That's right!" another chimed in. "He's just a little stronger than average. It's nothing special."
Little Fatty heard them and thought they made a lot of sense.
There were four of them, after all, and they were all good fighters. The advantage was theirs!
"Exactly!" Little Fatty struggled to his feet, but the movement aggravated his injuries, making him bare his teeth in pain.
But he had no time to worry about that. He waved a hand and said, "Don't mind me. Get him together! How dare he act all high and mighty in front of me? Give him a good beating first. Today, I'll teach him why flowers are red!"
"Got it, boss!"
"No problem, boss!"
Little Fatty's three companions immediately shouted their agreement. Leaving him behind, they approached Mo Chen with malicious grins.
Yesterday, the whole thing had happened so suddenly, and Mo Chen's beastlike aura had scared them.
The more they thought about it afterward, the angrier they got. There was no way they'd admit they were cowards.
They'd already been planning to find another chance to get their revenge. Now Mo Chen had walked right into their hands—how could they possibly hold back?
"Ow, you bastards!" Little Fatty lost his footing and fell flat on his rear, yelping in pain.
But his underlings were focused on Mo Chen now and didn't have time for him.
"Brat, the road to heaven was open, but you refused to take it. Now you've barged into hell. You brought this on yourself!"
"Our boss gave the order. Even if you get on your knees and call us grandpa now, it won't help. Stand still and let us beat you up. Behave yourself, and I might go easy on you."
"Too bad for you, kid. Yesterday, I cut my way from East Street to West Street, and nobody around here dares defy me. You lousy little punk even dared to provoke our boss."
The three thugs glared at Mo Chen, spewing threats as they closed in on him.
Clearly, they wanted Mo Chen to feel the pressure of their intimidating presence before they laid a hand on him.
Mo Chen wanted to ask the third guy if his eyes were all right, but decided not to waste too much time on them.
"Enough blabbering. It's my time to shine, so who told you to add extra drama?!"
Mo Chen darted straight between the three of them, then—
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!!
Three loud slaps rang out. Amid their screams, Little Fatty's three underlings were sent flying, landing in a heap on top of him.
"Arrgh! I'm dying, I'm dying!" Pinned at the very bottom, Little Fatty screamed even more pitifully than his three underlings.
Unfortunately, each of the three had taken a slap from Mo Chen. Their heads were still ringing, and they couldn't get up even after a good while.
By the time they slowly came to their senses and remembered their boss, Little Fatty had already rolled his eyes back and foamed at the mouth, having passed out from the pain.
"Boss!!" The three men cried out in alarm.
"Kid, stay right there if you've got the guts! Just wait and see how we deal with you!"
"We're taking our boss to the hospital first. We'll come back and have a fair fight with you later. Don't you dare run!"
"Yeah, right! That's exactly it!"
Two of them lifted Little Fatty between them and tried to make a run for it. The last one hesitated for a moment, then hurried after them.
Whoosh!
Mo Chen darted forward again, blocking their path. He held a kunai in his hand, twirling it playfully.
"Mercy, hero!"
"We'll never do it again!"
The two men carrying Little Fatty dropped to their knees without hesitation, hands on their ears, showing that they'd "learned their lesson and begged for mercy."
The last one was still a beat behind, but quickly followed suit and knelt down too.
"Yowch!!"
Little Fatty hit the ground with a thud, waking up from the pain and yelping loudly.
"Enough. All of you, shut up!" Mo Chen pressed the kunai against Little Fatty's neck.
The cold touch and chilling killing intent made Little Fatty shiver and fall silent at once.
"You've messed with me twice now!" Mo Chen raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to settle this score with you!"
"..."
Little Fatty and his three underlings had plenty of complaints they wanted to voice, but they didn't dare say a word.
"So hand over everything valuable you've got. It's time for a robbery!" Mo Chen pressed the kunai forward, opening a thin bloody line on Little Fatty's neck.
"Don't kill me! I'll pay, I'll pay!" Little Fatty was so scared he nearly wet himself. He hurriedly shouted, "Didn't you hear this big bro—no, sir! Didn't you hear what sir said? Hurry up and hand over all your money!"
Soon, a pile of miscellaneous items lay on the ground.
"This little bit of money won't buy your lives!" Mo Chen glanced at it, looking a little displeased.
It added up to only about a thousand ryo. What a paltry sum.
He was serious about robbing them!
After all, he was an orphan with no parents. The future was the future, but right now, he really was short on cash.
He could ask Yamato or the Third Hokage for money, and they would definitely give it to him.
But how could that compare to earning money with his own hands?
"Sir, we really don't have any more!" Little Fatty wore a miserable expression, looking close to tears.
If they had money, would they really be hanging around on the streets?
"I don't care. That has nothing to do with me!" Mo Chen said fiercely. "There are four of you, and I'm charging ten thousand ryo per head. You, Fatty, owe twenty thousand. That makes fifty thousand ryo in total!"
"You have three days to deliver the money to my house. Otherwise, you'll face the consequences!"
"Of course, you can always move away and make it hard for me to find you. But don't say I didn't warn you: I'm a favorite of the Third Hokage, and I'll soon be joining the Anbu. When that happens... heh heh!"
Mo Chen chuckled coldly, put away his kunai, and turned to leave.
This was just a small way to vent his anger over what had happened yesterday.
As for whether they'd actually bring him the money, Mo Chen didn't particularly care.
Even if they didn't, he wouldn't go looking for them.
Of course, if he happened to run into them one day, they'd still be out of luck.
What Mo Chen hadn't expected was that Little Fatty and his gang really did get scared. They started lying in wait in the village's shadowy corners to rob people walking alone, and that very night, the Anbu arrested them and sent them to prison.
After the Third Hokage received the news, he sent someone to deliver a hundred thousand ryo in banknotes to Mo Chen.
This turn of events was certainly beyond Mo Chen's expectations, and it confirmed his standing in the Third Hokage's eyes.
After giving those minor characters a quick lesson, Mo Chen soon forgot all about it.
When he got home, Tenten was already waiting for him.
Oh, no. Not just Tenten—the Konoha Four Flowers had all come.
Since Tenten came over to clean for him, Mo Chen had given her a key.
They clearly hadn't been there long. Tenten and Hinata were cleaning, while Sakura and Ino were busy in the kitchen.
He'd heard the two arguing from the front gate, so he knew they were inside without even having to go in.
Clearly, they all wanted to get on Mo Chen's good side, even Sakura, who always said one thing and did another.
Mo Chen secretly enjoyed the thought, though it was a shame they were only little flower buds. Otherwise, he would definitely have...
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